Does Louise Ervin Know?

I was flipping through the local paper and came across this letter:

Be smart -- vote Liberal

PETER HUGHES

In 2003, the Kitchener-Waterloo riding race was so tight that if four per cent of the Progressive Conservative voters chose Liberal or if 20 per cent of the NDP/Green voters chose Liberal, we would have elected a Liberal MPP.

In the Kitchener-Waterloo riding every vote for NDP/Green is effectively a vote for the Progressive Conservatives. Since the NDP/Green vote is so small, they should vote strategically by voting Liberal.

Since 2003, as an opposition member, Elizabeth Witmer had no voice and no access to the Liberal cabinet -- she was hardly working for us. All recent Ontario government announcements in the Kitchener-Waterloo riding were because of Liberal party decisions and had nothing to do with any influence from our local Progressive Conservative member.

Witmer supports the Progressive Conservative policy to extend school funding to the 90-plus religions in Ontario. Traditional Progressive Conservative voters in the Kitchener-Waterloo riding have a great opportunity to tell Witmer and her party what they really think of this -- by voting Liberal and not Progressive Conservative.

Another reason to vote Liberal in this election is because the Progressive Conservatives are in power in Ottawa.

Voters in the Kitchener-Waterloo riding should prove they're the world's smartest community by electing an MPP who works with the party that will form the government -- the Liberals.

Peter Hughes
Kitchener

I have so many questions it is hard to know where to start. Is this Peter Hughes, this Peter Hughes? I also wonder if he was the "Peter" who pushed this line at last week's all candidates meeting?

Also, I am wondering whether Louise Ervin agrees that "All recent Ontario government announcements in the Kitchener-Waterloo riding were because of Liberal party decisions and had nothing to do with any influence from our local Progressive Conservative member"? Does she buy into the idea that is the job of unelected, local party functionaries of the governing party to make decisions for the government, rather than the elected representatives of the people? Does her campaign support this position?

This kind of patron/client politics is slowly seeping into our electoral system. The idea that we as citizens can only depend on our government if we "back the right horse", is a cancer eating away at our democracy. That both the provincial Liberals and the Federal Tories are both pushing this nonsense means, the rot has spread far and wide.

Update: Yet another instance of threats of government retaliation for failing to vote the "right way" -- this time in Nova Scotia. This is becoming a trend.

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